Research Process Part 1 (5%) Instructions:
In Part 1, students will complete the Research Process Part 1 Handout - see below) which will guide students through the beginning stages of the research process and prepare them to write their Persuasive Research Essay:
1. Choose one essay prompt.
2. Brainstorm prior knowledge and understanding about the chosen essay prompt.
3. Generate a list of background information questions that you’d like to know about the chosen essay prompt (e.g. Who...? What...? When...? Where...? Why...? How...?)
4. Gather background information about the chosen essay prompt.
5. Define and na
ow the focus of their essay.
ESSAY PROMPTS:
1. Should we use more robots to in the healthcare system?
2. Do you think that making body cameras mandatory for police officers helps to combat systemic racism in the police force?
3. In recent months, Twitter and Facebook have deleted some people’s accounts for reasons of spreading fake news and hate. Should Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites be preventing freedom of speech?
4. Should the prison system in Canada as we know it be dismantled?
5. Would abolishing due dates for assignments help students manage their workload?
6. Assuming there is a third wave of the coronavirus, should Canada continue to lockdown services like restaurants, shops, and gyms?
1. Record the essay prompt you have chosen here:
Ie. Should college education be free for all students?
2. Provide the reader with context on your topic by making a list of everything you already know about this topic. This should be no less than 4 sentences. (2 marks):
3. What background information do you want to know about this topic? Make a list of at least 4 questions. (2 marks).
Ie. How many students rely on grants or subsidies to go to college in Canada?
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4. Without using the internet, make a list of arguments on both sides of the argument, EVEN IF you don’t agree with that position. (DO NOT USE THE INTERNET FOR THIS LIST). (4 marks).
YES
NO
Ie. College should be free so students can focus on their learning instead of having to divide their time between working and learning.
Ie. College should not be free because it would mean that there would be less money to pay for the resources needed to teach effectively.
5. Use your questions to locate background information about your topic. Record at least three things you have learned about your topic here. Be sure to include an in-text citation and web link for each one! (6 marks):
Background information
In-text citation and weblink
Ie. 234,000 students in Ontario got grants to go to college in 2017 which is roughly 40% of all college/university students in the province.
(Ouellet, 2019)
https:
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-schools-tuition-data XXXXXXXXXX
6. Now that you have a better understanding of your topic, what is your position on this topic? In other words, what is your opinion to the question you chose in Q1? List 3 arguments that you might make to support your opinion, and one piece of evidence that supports the detail. Include an in-text citation if this idea is not yours. (6 marks)
NOTE: To make your argument more complex and convincing, ONE of these arguments should be on the OPPOSITE side from your opinion. (EXTRA POINT)
Argument
Evidence
Ie. Not all students need to rely on financial assistance to go to college or university so it should not be free for everyone.
68% of domestic students who go to George Brown already receive free tuition (Ouellet, XXXXXXXXXXMany other students who attend college are able to pay the full tuition, so why would we make it free for students who are able to pay?
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2.
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Research Process Part II – 5%
In Research Process PART I, you thought about your topic, listed knowledge you already had on the topic, did a little bit of research on questions you need to know the answer to before writing a well-informed essay that is not simply based on your own opinion.
In Research Process PART II, you'll examine whether the sources you used in PART I are reliable using the methods described in CTRL-F.ca of lateral researching. In other words, you’re going to look up your source.
8 marks for each article = 16 marks
STEPS (remember to complete this chart for TWO of your sources):
ARTICLE 1 from Research Process Part I:
1. Choose two of the sources from your Research Process Part I assignment to conduct lateral research on. (If you used academic journals for that assignment, choose two sources from Google that are NOT from academic journals). (2 marks)
** COMPLETE ONE CHART FOR EACH SOURCE**
Create an APA style Reference for your source.
2. What evidence or claim did you use from this source? Explain how you had planned to use it in your essay. What argument was it going to provide proof for. (1 mark)
3. Investigate the source to determine who is responsible for posting these articles? What is the reputation of the source? Is it reliable? (2 marks)
· Google the source to find out who posts these articles and what their reputation is.
· Use Wikipedia after the web address (include a space before Wikepedia) to learn more about the company, how big they are, what their bias is, etc.
4. Find a better source. Take the claim, evidence, expert opinion or other support you found in the article and plan to use in your essay, and see if other sources say the same thing. (3 marks)
· Do other sources say the same thing or is the information only coming from one place?
· Explain how the other source used this information. Did the source you used take it out of context or was the evidence you found used accurately?
· List one other source that says the same thing as your source, OR list a more reliable source and provide a Reference for it.
ARTICLE 2 from Research Process Part I:
5. Choose two of the sources from your Research Process Part I assignment to conduct lateral research on. (If you used academic journals for that assignment, choose two sources from Google that are NOT from academic journals). (2 marks)
** COMPLETE ONE CHART FOR EACH SOURCE**
Create an APA style Reference for your source.
6. What evidence or claim did you use from this source? Explain how you had planned to use it in your essay. What argument was it going to provide proof for. (1 mark)
7. Investigate the source to determine who is responsible for posting these articles? What is the reputation of the source? Is it reliable? (2 marks)
· Google the source to find out who posts these articles and what their reputation is.
· Use Wikipedia after the web address (include a space before Wikepedia) to learn more about the company, how big they are, what their bias is, etc.
8. Find a better source. Take the claim, evidence, expert opinion or other support you found in the article and plan to use in your essay, and see if other sources say the same thing. (3 marks)
· Do other sources say the same thing or is the information only coming from one place?
· Explain how the other source used this information. Did the source you used take it out of context or was the evidence you found used accurately?
· List one other source that says the same thing as your source, OR list a more reliable source and provide a Reference for it.
Sample:
9. Choose two of the sources from your Research Process Part I assignment to conduct lateral research on. (If you used academic journals for that assignment, choose two sources from Google that are NOT from academic journals). (2 marks)
** COMPLETE ONE CHART FOR EACH SOURCE**
Create an APA style Reference for your source.
Hao, N. (n.d.). Leaked documents: Northern Chinese city covers up second wave of virus out
eak. The Epoch Times https:
epochtimes.today/leaked-documents-northern-chinese-city-covers-up-second-wave-of-virus-out
eak
10. What evidence or claim did you use from this source? Explain how you had planned to use it in your essay. What argument was it going to provide proof for. (1 mark)
The source that I listed in Q1 pointed out that “leaked documents” showed that a Chinese town was not accurately reporting the number of Covid cases. I wanted to use this claim to support my position that it’s difficult for people to determine what news online is real and what is actually fake (Hao, n.d.).
11. Investigate the source to determine who is responsible for posting these articles? What is the reputation of the source? Is it reliable? (2 marks)
· Google the source to find out who posts these articles and what their reputation is.
· Use Wikipedia after the web address (include a space before Wikepedia) to learn more about the company, how big they are, what their bias is, etc.
When I look up www.theepochtimes.com Wikipedia, I discovered that this news organization is a far-right group which means that they are ultra conservative. They are strong financial supporters of Donald Trump and they subscribe to conspiracy theories in the United States like QAnon (which believes that Democrats and Hollywood superstars are involved in a child sex trafficking ring). It also promotes “anti-vaccine” information.
When I looked up “The Epoch Times reputation” I get a lot of results about the fact that it makes “outlandish” claims, has sent millions of people newsletters of news that is considered unreliable, and that it’s “one of Trump’s favourite news sources.”
12. Find a better source. Take the claim, evidence, expert opinion or other support you found in the article and plan to use in your essay, and see if other sources say the same thing. (3 marks)
· Do other sources say the same thing or is the information only coming from one place?
· Explain how the other source used this information. Did the source you used take it out of context or was the evidence you found used accurately?
· List one other source that says the same thing as your source, OR list a more reliable source and provide a Reference for it.
This article doesn’t have a date, so it’s a bit tough to verify what other news sources were saying at the same time. But The Financial Times, which is a highly reputable news source, tells us on June